Thu, May 04, 2006 page1

• Chen dissatisfied with US transit stop

  NOT IDEAL Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang said the government was unhappy with the US offer for President Chen Shui-bian to stop over in Anchorage

  • By Charles Snyder and Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTERS IN WASHINGTON AND TAIPEI
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  President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will embark on an eight-day state visit to Paraguay and Costa Rica this morning with transit stops both ways in Anchorage, ending weeks of haggling with the US government over where Chen would make his transit stops in the US.

  The transit request was filed last Monday, three days after Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) concluded his US trip. Chen had originally planned to leave yesterday and was forced to postpone his departure until today.

  Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) said yesterday the ministry was not satisfied with the final result, but did not want to make things more difficult for their "friend [the US]."

  Special arrangement

  "It is a special arrangement at a special time and such an arrangement will not become the precedent for the president's future stopovers in the US," he said.

  "We understand that the US, as one of the world's leaders, is deeply involved with the issues of Iran's nuclear enrichment program, Darfur's refugee problem and North Korea's nuclear ambitions. We understand their position and consideration and are in favor of a peaceful resolution of those problems," he said.

  Chen is scheduled to arrive in Paraguay today and to leave for Costa Rica on Sunday. Huang said he was not certain whether Chen would get off the plane during his two-hour transit stop in Anchorage. Chen is scheduled to return to Taipei next Thursday.

  Huang declined to disclose why Chen had opted to stop in Anchorage rather than Hawaii or Los Angeles.

  A US source has told the Taipei Times in Washington that US President George W. Bush had authorized Chen to stop in Honolulu, Hawaii, on his way to Latin America and in Anchorage, Alaska, on his return flight. Chen, however, is only allowed to rest and refuel and is not permitted to stay overnight in either city, the source said.

  Huang dismissed speculation that the arrangement has anything to do with Chen's decision to cease the functions of the National Unification Council and the application of the National Unification Guidelines, saying that the controversy was over.

  Huang also dismissed a media report claiming that Chen expressed his personal dissatisfaction to American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Stephen Young on Monday, insisting that he be allowed to make transit stops in New York or make no transit stops at all.

  No unpleasantness

  Huang said the media report was completely false and that no unpleasant conversations had taken place during the consultation process with the US government. He did, however, admit that Young had visited him on Tuesday to discuss the issue.

  Huang said both sides had agreed to direct their attentions to long-term relations and to strengthen bilateral cooperation.

  Commenting on Taiwan-US relations, Huang said they were "fundamentally on the sunny side."

  Huang said he did not think the arrangement was a diplomatic setback because there had been little time for consultation with the US government over the issue.

  Huang blamed Beijing for causing the postponement, saying that China was always working behind the scenes to suppress Taiwan's international activities.

  "I don't think this time is an exception," he said.

  In addition to voicing the government's firmest and strongest dissatisfaction with China, Huang said Taiwan would not succumb to pressure and the government would do its best to safeguard national dignity and improve the nation's presence on the world stage.

  Meanwhile, in Washington, David Lee (李大維), Taiwan's official representative in the US, said the nuclear standoff between the US and Iran, in addition to Hu's recent visit to Washington, had played a major role in the Bush administration's negative reaction to the request for transit visas for Chen.

  With Tehran threatening to develop nuclear weapons capability, and Bush threatening to use "all options," including, presumably, attacks on Iran to prevent this from happening, the US was eager to gain China's support in the UN, Lee told the Taipei Times in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

  The US, UK and France are preparing a UN resolution that would hold out the possibility of sanctions and the use of military force against Iran, but China and Russia have opposed the measure. As a result, Bush wants nothing to stand in the way of his government's ability to convince Beijing to support its resolution, Lee said.

  "The Iranian nuclear issue is a very big factor in the decision" on Chen's transit request, Lee said.

  The vice ministers of all permanent members of the UN security council held a meeting in Paris on Tuesday to try to get China and Russia to go along with the resolution, and the ministers of the council member countries will hold a meeting in New York next Tuesday to discuss the issue, Lee said.

  "If the United States wants to use diplomatic means to resolve the Iran nuclear issue, it has to engage China for support," Lee said.

  As a result, the US was "hesitant" to grant Chen favorable treatment, he said.

  Lee said the Hu visit and the Iran issue were just two of several reasons for Chen's treatment. But he declined to give details of the other reasons.

  The envoy said that the US had approved a "package" dealing with Chen's transit stops on Monday morning Washington time, which he had transmitted immediately to Taipei.

  "The government is not too happy" about the US package, Lee said.

  Chen himself had been involved in making the final decision on whether to accept the US package, Lee said.

  In related news, Bush announced on Tuesday that he had chosen his wife, Laura, to head the official delegation to attend the inauguration of Oscar Arias Sanchez as president of Costa Rica on Monday.

  The inauguration is the main reason for Chen's trip to Latin America.

  Also in Washington, two co-chairs of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, Sherrod Brown and Dana Rohrabacher, sent a letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday urging her to invite Chen to stop over in New York on his way back from Paraguay and Costa Rica, and urging her to communicate directly with Taiwan's elected leadership.

  Such a stopover, they said, would "enable members of Congress to travel to New York to meet with the president, providing them an important opportunity to discuss recent developments in Taiwan and in the Taiwan Strait."

  Brown and Rohrabacher also urged Rice to "gradually normalize our contacts" and to communicate with Chen directly.
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